1 . What is the future of AI (人工智能)? Will it be a good thing? We asked four students what they think.
Liu Lei
| I think AI will be more useful in our future lives. It’s now used in many fields, like phones and medicine. No one really knows what will happen if machines become smarter than humans. However, I’m sure AI will help us solve many problems. |
Xu Lu
| I’m worried that people create something that can be better than themselves. In the near future, AI will develop at a high speed. Humans may be replaced (取代) because AI robots will do a lot of work instead of people. |
Zhao Mingming
| I really think that Al will change the way we work, the way we live, and the way we think. Imagine if we could put a CPU into our brains! Soon we’ll be able to improve our math and memory. How exciting! |
Molly
| Think of what’s happening now. Some robots are used to kill animals. So I think AI will be very dangerous for humans, too. We need to be careful about what we ask machines to do. |
| A．Because humans are smarter than AI. |
| B．Because AI robots will do lots of human jobs. |
| C．Because humans will put a CPU into our brains. |
| D．Because we can’t improve our math and memory. |
| A．AI will be more useful for people. | B．AI will be less useful for people. |
| C．AI will be dangerous for people. | D．AI will be important for people. |
| A．Liu Lei and Xu Lu | B．Liu Lei and Zhao Mingming |
| C．Xu Lu and Molly | D．Zhao Mingming and Molly |
2 . What will man be like in the future——in 5000 or even 50,000 years from now? We can only make guesses, of course, but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today, for man is slowly changing all the time.
Let us take an obvious example, Man, even five hundred years ago, was shorter than he is today. Now, on average, men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is a relatively short period of time, so we may assume that man will continue to grow taller. Again, in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so, we still make use of only about 20% of the brain’s capacity. As time goes on, however, we shall have to use our brains more and more, and eventually we shall need larger ones! This is likely to bring about a physical change too: the head, in particular the forehead, will grow larger.
Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact, we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over a very long period of time it is likely that man’s eyes will grow stronger.
On the other hand, we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These, as a result, are likely to grow weaker. At the same time, however, our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modern life.
But what about hair? This will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future, then, both sexes are likely to be bald(光秃的).
Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at! This may well be true. But in spite of all these changes, future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being, with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.
1. The passage mainly tells us that____| A．humans need’t wear glasses in the future. |
| B．man’s life will be different in the future. |
| C．future man will look quite different from us. |
| D．man is growing taller and uglier as time passes |
| A．guess | B．explain | C．compete | D．know |
| A．future life is always predictable(可预测的) |
| B．human beings will become less attractive in the future |
| C．less use of a bodily organ(器官)may lead to its degeneration(退化) |
| D．human beings hope for a change in the future life |
| A．Colour and height | B．size and appearance |
| C．thought and observation | D．thought and emotion |
3 . Whether in the home or the workplace, social robots are going to become more common in the next few years. Social robots are about to bring technology to the everyday world in a more humanized way, said Cynthia Breazeal, chief scientist at the robot company Jibo.
While household robots today do the normal housework, social robots will be much more like partners than tools. For example, these robots will be able to tell when someone is happy or sad. This allows them to respond more properly to the user.
The Jibo robot, arranged to ship later this year, is designed to be a personalized assistant. You can talk to the robot, ask it questions, and make requests for it to perform different tasks. The robot doesn’t just give general answers to questions; it responds based on what it learns about each person in the household. It can do things such as reminding an elderly family member to take medicine or taking family photos.
Social robots are not just finding their way into the home. They have potential(潜在的) applications in everything from education to health care and are already finding their way into some of these areas.
Fellow Robots is one company bringing social robots to the market. The company’s “Oshbot” robot is built to assist customers in a store, which can help the customers find items and help guide them to the product’s location in the store. It can also speak different languages and make recommendations for different items based on what the customer is shopping for.
The more interaction the robot has with humans, the more it learns. But Oshbot, like other social robots, is not aimed to replace workers, but to work together with other employees. “We have technologies to train social robots to do things not for us, but with us,” said Breazeal.
1. How are social robots different from household robots?| A．They can control their feelings. |
| B．They are more like humans. |
| C．They do the normal housework . |
| D．They respond to users more slowly. |
| A．Communicate with you and put on performances. |
| B．Answer your questions and make requests. |
| C．Take your family pictures and deliver milk. |
| D．Obey your orders and remind you to take pills. |
| A．be our workmates |
| B．train employees |
| C．improve technologies |
| D．take the place of workers |
| A．suggestions | B．commands | C．expressions | D．bargains |
